January 31, 2003Shelter titles best at weathering 2002TORONTO-Fresh year-end data released by Leading National Advertisers Canada indicate that magazines focusing on home decoration and improvement continue to thrive, posting a 14.8% increase in run-of-press ad pages last year compared to 2001. The seven shelter mags tracked by LNA generated $41 million in 2002, up from $35 million in 2001. The news-and-business category remains soft with the 12 titles tracked by LNA posting a collective drop of 2.9% over 2001; however there were strong performers in the bunch, including I.E. Money, up 14.5% and the fortnightly Canadian Business (which celebrated its 75th anniversary this past Tuesday) posting a 14.3% increase. A more detailed year-end report will be published in the March issue of Masthead.

January 27, 2003St. Joseph offers enviro-friendly paperCONCORD, Ont.-St. Joseph Print Group, whose sister division St. Joseph Media is English Canada's third largest consumer magazine publisher (producing such titles as Toronto Life, Saturday Night, Fashion and Shift), has been granted certification by the Forest Stewardship Council, an international non-profit organization founded in 1993 to create environmentally sound forest-harvesting practices. This means the company can offer customers products produced from trees in FSC-designated forests. Customers are entitled to carry the FSC logo on their printed products. This certification applies to St. Joseph's print facilities in Concord, Toronto and Ottawa. "Conscientious corporate buyers want the assurance that the paper they use comes from a well-managed forest-FSC enables St. Joseph Print Group to provide this assurance," said FSC executive director Jim McCarthy is a released statement earlier this month.

January 23, 2003Geist to double in sizeVANCOUVERTwelve-year-old literary quarterly Geist has received a $120,000 grant from the Tula Foundation in Stratford, Ont., which supports educational and conservation initiatives. The grant will be dispersed in two equal amounts over this year and next. Founder/editor Stephen Osborne says hell use the new funding to double page counts and commission long essays at competitive freelance rates. Look for these changes in its spring issue. Our grant falls somewhat short of the Poetry Chicago benchmark, said Osborne in a released statement, referring to a staggering US$100-million donation made to a U.S. journal last year, but nevertheless it will have a substantial effect on Canadas largest literary magazine.

January 14, 2003INDAS sells, Rogers shuts in-house fulfillment opsTORONTO-In a memo released to staff last Thursday, Rogers Publishing announced that it will close its in-house fulfillment operation Magazine Subscriber Services. The main Toronto office will close on Jan. 24; the Montreal office shut for good last Friday. Michael Fox, Rogers Publishing's senior vice-president in charge of circulation, was unavailable for comment. It's believed Rogers' decision was influenced by yesterday's surprise announcement that 32-year-old Canadian subscription/fulfillment house INDAS has been sold to Des Moines, Iowa-based Communications Data Services (CDS) which produces the SERV software to which INDAS has maintained the Canadian license since 1986. Said INDAS CEO Bill Kaluski in a released statement: "We are excited to be a part of an international company that will help diversify our service offerings and support our growth through ongoing technological improvements." Kaluski was unavailable for comment. Making things interesting is news that Canadian list-managment firm Cornerstone is getting into the fulfillment business. Traditionally a very sleepy corner of Canadian periodical publishing, the fulfillment business appears set to enter a new competitive era from which publishers can only benefit. For more details, see the February issue of Masthead.

January 10, 2003Caren King rememberedTORONTO-Nearly 200 people turned out for a memorial service in honour of the late Caren King last night. The scene: the Art Gallery of Ontario. King was a titan in the industry, revered for her circulation know-how and deft touch with magazine launches, including Photo Life, Your Money and Cottage Life. She was also a fierce advocate for Canadian interests in Ottawa on behalf of the magazine industry. Moving speeches from colleagues Terry Sellwood, Jeffrey Shearer, Mark Jamison and Maureen Cavan were only outdone by reminiscences by her husband Fraser Clark and an extraordinarily eloquent eulogy by King's 12-year-old daughter Brynne. King died last month of complications arising from breast cancer at age 46. She was most recently publisher of Canadian Living and Style at Home. Clark described the evening as "a moment of closure in Toronto." King was a source of inspiration "not by intention but by example," he said. It's hoped that $50,000 will be raised for a perpetual scholarship in her name at Ryerson University. To contribute contact: 416-504-0274, ext. 22.

January 07, 2003Magazines Canada to dissolve into CMPATORONTO-In order that the consumer magazine industry in Canada speak with one voice-an oft-expressed need over the years-it seems only a matter of time before the Canadian Magazine Publishers Association integrates Magazines Canada, the industry's 35-year-old non-profit marketing board whose job it is to sell the effectiveness of magazine advertising. The boards of the two organizations voted recently to form a "transition committee" to recommend a process by which the activities of Magazines Canada can be absorbed by the CMPA, says CMPA president Mark Jamison, who will sit on the committee, as will Magazines Canada president Gary Garland. It's hoped that committee chair Kerrie Duncan, Transcontinental's senior vice-president of operations, will submit an action plan to the CMPA board sometime this summer. What sparked this process? The three largest CMPA members (Rogers Media, Transcontinental Media and St. Joseph Media)-who also happen to be members of Magazines Canada-stressed the need to speak with one voice. "The idea is that the good work done by both organizations will be enhanced not compromised [by the integration]," says Garland. "We're hopeful that we'll have resolution by mid-2003."

January 02, 2003Glogovac named magazine mentorTORONTO-Saturday Night/Toronto Life publisher Marina Glogovac is participating in the launch of the Ontario Media Development Corporation's mentorship program designed to match mid- to senior-level "cultural entrepreneurs" with industry veterans at the top of their game. Prospective protégés must come to the program with a project proposal in hand; each protégé gets to meet with his or her mentor for one hour per month over a six-month period. In addition to the magazine mentor, the OMDC has lined up five other mentors, each of whom represents one of Ontario's five other cultural sectors. They are: EMI Music Canada president Dean Cameron (music), Riverside Entertainment president Fred Fuchs (interactive digital media), Alliance Atlantis Communications CEO Michael MacMillan (television), McArthur & Company Publishing president Kim McArthur (books) and Norstar Entertainment CEO Peter Simpson (film). The call for prospective protégés ends Jan. 20. Contact: omdc.on.ca (search word: mentorship).